Reversible manual and automatic labeling machine with weigher

ABSTRACT

Between input and output conveyors is an opening in which a computer scale may be reversed to face toward either side of the machine, parts required for propelling the workpiece across the scale table being interchangeable from one side to the other. Regardless of scale position, mechanism associated with the output conveyor rectifies successive workpieces on the conveyor rather than the scale platform to align them with the labeler for automatic operation irrespective of the side toward which the scale faces. The label printer remains at one side of the output conveyor and is operable either manually or automatically. The printer is mounted for bodily movement to facilitate manual operation whether the operator stands at one side or the other side of the machine.

United States Patent Young et al.

[ REVERSIBLE MANUAL AND AUTOMATIC LABELING MACHINE WITH WEIGHER [72]Inventors: John T. Young, Lake Bluff, [1].;

, Charles E. Michels, Racine; Thomas C. Zimmerman; Gilbert M.

Hagemann, both of Franksville, all

of Wis.

[73] Assignee: Wrapping Machinery Company,

Inc., Franksville, Wis.

[22] Filed: July 22, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 57,282

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 732,750, May 28,1968,

abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl. ..,.....l77/52, 177/119, 177/126,

' 177/253,177/161 [51] Int. Cl.....G0lg 13/00, GOlg 13/22, GOlg 15/00[58] Field of Search.... ..177/52, 53, 119-121,

l77/DIG. 8, 16, 58, 54, 55, 253-259, 262, 161, 260, 126,127, 244

[5 6] 9 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 189,976 4/1877 Verckler..177/253 1,524,970 2/1925 Englen ..177/161 1 Sept. 26, 1972 PrimaryExaminer-Robert S. Ward, Jr. Att0rney-Wheeler, House & Wheeler 5 7]ABSTRACT Between input and output conveyors is an opening in which acomputer scale may be reversed to face toward either side of themachine, parts required for propelling the workpiece across the scaletable being interchangeable from one side to the other. Regardless ofscale position, mechanism associated with the output conveyor rectifiessuccessive workpieces on the conveyor rather than the scale platform toalign them with the labeler for automatic operation irrespective of theside toward which the scale faces. The label printer remains at one sideof the output conveyor and is operable either manually or automatically.The printer is mounted for bodily movement to facilitate manualoperation whether the operator stands at one side or the other side ofthe machine.

5 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures u." -ABEL; amn-Er: a

PATENTEDsms I972 SHEET 1 BF 5 \NVENTOE$ a QM /Leser M.Hfl6-EM/7NN w m,m, M. Maw

QM QN Mm MwPZTM u Jun-( ATTORNEYS PATENTEDSEP26 I972 SHEET 2 [IF 5 5 MMN MW M 27 Q I imam 4am new i Y B rllllllll ATTORNEY S PAIENTEflszras m2SHEET S [If 5 bNN m-vonunws REVERSIBLE MANUAL AND AUTOMATIC LABELINGMACHINE WITI-IWEIGI-IER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Thisapplication is a division of our copending application Ser. No. 732,750,filed May 28, 1968, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thegeneral organization and many of thedetailed parts are disclosed in prior US. Pat. Nos. 3,194,710 and3,264,161. Neither 'of those patents, however, provides for any changein orientation or change of operator position. Operator position becomesimportant when the operator is required to resort to manual operation ofthe labeling device due to an irregular sized package, or for any otherreason; But for the present invention, what would be convenient for himat one side of. the machine would become virtually impossible when heis. at the other side of the machine.

The weighing scale. and its computing mechanism for pricing theworkpiece, and the printing of the computed figures on a label are allknown on the basis of the prior patents above mentioned. Likewise manyof the controls are known. However, the moving of the controls oroperating parts from one side of the machine to the other consequentupon reversal of scale position, presented problems and, in the initialembodi ments of this invention, required that a number of parts bebodily replaced for substitution by other parts.

Moreover, the matterof rectifying the position of work or aligning itwith regard to the labeler presented problems, and it was founddesirable that this rectification not occur on the scale platform. Otherproblems were involved in bodily moving the label printer in order tomake it accessible at either side of the device, according totheposition of the operator. V

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention consists in a simplifiedconversion of a weighing and labeling machine to facilitate differentpositions of orientation between the source of wrapped material and thepoint of delivery and further to permit an operator to stand at eitherside of the machine for the manual application of labels to abnormalpackages.

The invention contemplates the provision of a machine frame havingelevated input and output conscale but is bodily shifted obliquely topresent the label to an operator at the other side of the machine.

A related invention concerns the use of a rectifying arm which iseffective during automatic operation, regardless of scale position, toalign with the label applying head a workpiece which has been weighedand for which the selling price has been computed and printed on thelabel.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appearfrom the following disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a weighing andlabeling ofFIG. 1.

veyor tables between which there is a gap in'which the computer scale isreversibly positioned to face either side. Of the various operatingconnections mounted'on the machine frame only some, such as the workpropelling arm and its operating connections, require transfer from onesideof the other to function of the machine according to scale position.

It is a feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention that theparts which require to be moved incident to conversion of the machineare all interchangeable from one side to the other without requiringsubstitution.

-A related invention is the mounting of the label printer for movementfrom its normal positiorl for automatic operation to new position formanual label application. If the operator is at the opposite side of themachine, the labeler is not only advanced toward the FIG. 6 is a view intransverse section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is view taken in section on the line 7-7 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a view on an enlarged scale taken in section on the line 8-8of FIG..7.

FIG. 9 is a view taken in section on the line 99 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 10 is a view on an enlarged scale taken on the line1l0l0 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the basic frame, with the scale and, all ofthe operating parts omitted.

FIG. 12 is a view in front elevation of the frame parts illustrated inFIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the infeed conveyor orindexer in a different position from that shown in FIG. 4. I

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Although the disclosure hereof isdetailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice theinvention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplifythe invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. Thescope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.

Basic frame 16 (FIGS. 1 1 and 12) has elevated tables Band 20 for theinfeed conveyor 22 and the outfeed conveyor 46 respectively. A workpiecearriving on the gravity supply conveyor 26 (FIGS. 2 and 4) comes to restagainst the frame on the elevated receiving end of the infeed conveyor22. Conveyor 22 is pivoted about its driven end. The frame 30 of thesupply conveyor 26 has a pivot at32 at its work receiving end. When thescale platform 34 is free to receive an additional workpiece, lever 35(FIG. 4) drawsthe receiving end of frame 22 downward and oscillateslever 23 to move frame 30 upwardly, thereby to permit the workpiece toride onto the conveyor 22 for delivery onto table 34.

As explained in the prior patents above identified, the weight of theworkpiece operates a computer mechanism inthe scale head 36 to effectthe functioning of a label printer 38 and the delivery of a printedlabel onto the label feed chute 40. As printed the label will includethe'selling price of the weighed workpiece, and, usually, the weight andprice per pound.

The scale and related label printer constitute no part of the presentinvention, being described in former patents above identified. Theprinted label has a thermo-plastic adhesive which is partly softened bya heater (not shown) associated with the label feed chute 40.

As soon as the label is delivered to the feed chute a work propellingarm 42 (FIG. 2) engages the weighed workpiece 44 to advance it acrossthe scale table 34 onto the delivery conveyor 46. The latter comprisesrollers 48 which are quite close together except at one point wherethere is clearance 50 for the arm 52 of a rectifier plate 54. Therectifier plate is elongated parallel to the path of the work and isadapted to move transversely across the conveyor 46 to push theworkpiece 44 from the position indicated in dotted lines at 44a in FIG.2 to the position indicated in dotted lines at 44b in FIG. 2. Regardlessof how or where the workpiece comes to rest after being moved by arm 42onto con veyor 46, the object is to so align the workpiece with theultimate desired position at 440 in FIG. 2 so that one corner of theworkpiece will be properly oriented to lie directly beneath the point atwhich the label should be applied thereto by the label applicator 56.

The output conveyor rollers are encircled by a belt 58 desirably made ofmaterial to which soil does not readily adhere. As will hereinafter beexplained, the conveyor rollers and belt of the discharge conveyor 46are operated intermittently, the operation being.

suspended when the workpiece is in position 440 and being resumed topropel the workpiece from position 44b to position 440. At this point,during further suspension of conveyor operation, the label is applied tothe workpiece. Meantime, another workpiece will have been weighed andpushed onto the conveyor 46 and will have been rectified. During theoperation of the conveyor 46, the labeled workpiece is delivered ontothe discharge conveyor 60, to be followed, in due course, by otherworkpieces similarly advanced and labeled.

When the work does not require manual operation, the weighing,rectifying, and labeling proceed automatically. However, when it isknown that some of the workpieces will be irregular in size or shape andwill therefore-require manual labeling, the operator may stand in theposition indicated at 62 in FIG. 1 where he can pick the workpiecemanually from the scale and apply it manually to a label on the feedchute 40, the label being face down on the feed chute and thereforeadapted to have the softened thermo-plastic on its exposed surfaceengaged by the inverted workpiece for adherence thereto. It will beobserved that the reading and computing section 36 of the scale is newat the opposite side of the machine from the operators position 62.Otherwise the upwardly extending computer section 36 would interferewith the operation above described. For convenience the label printer isclosest to the observer in FIG. 1 and the replacement of such mechanismat the opposite side of the machine where it is proximate the operatorstation 64. Particularly involved is the workpiece propelling arm 42-and the means for the operation thereof as hereinafter explained. Duringautomatic operation this arm must push each successive workpiece acrossthe scale platform 34 and onto the conveyor 46. Before the arm returns,another workpiece will have been fed into the position of workpiece 44in FIG. 2 (the same being true in FIG. 1). Thereupon it becomesnecessary to lift the arm. during its return sweep in order to clear thenewly arrived workpiece and then to restore the arm to its normalposition so that when it again sweeps across the scale platform it canpush the workpiece before it onto the conveyor 46 on which it islabeled.

When themachine is required to be operated manually as well asautomatically, the position 64 of the operator as shown in FIG. 2presents problems because the labeling and printing mechanism 38 is nowon the opposite side of the machine from the operator. Accordingly, thisentire mechanism is freely movable on transport means such as casters orrollers 68 (FIGS. 2 and 3) from the position shown in full lines to theposition shown in dotted lines and marked 38' in FIG.

2. The mechanism moves across a platform 70 provided with a guide slot72 for the rollers 74 on spaced vertical fingers 76, 78, whereby thelabel delivery chute 40 moves from the retracted position shown in fulllines in FIG. 2 to an advanced position shown at 40 in dotted lines inFIG. 2. In the latter position it is readily accessible to an operatorstanding at 64 so that the workpiece 44 can readily bepicked up by theoperator and pressed against the label.

While the mechanism for operating the various parts of the apparatushave mostly been described in US. Pat. Nos. 3,'194,7 l0 and 3,264,161, abrief summary will be given here as a basis for showing how such partsas must be moved from one side of the machine to the other may readilybe interchanged between their respective positions.

The motor 80 drives a gear reducer 82. From output shaft 84 there is achain drive to a shaft 86 which carries cam 88. Operated by the cam is afollower 90 on a bell crank 35 link-connected to oscillate the receivingend of conveyor 22 in a downward direction. The lever 23 is thenoscillated to raise the delivery end of the frame 20 of the supplyconveyor 26 about the pintle 32.

The infeed conveyor 22 is driven by belt 96 so that when conveyors 26and 22 come into registry a workpiece on the supply conveyor 26 willadvance into the power driven rolls of conveyor 22 to be propelled ontothe scale platform 34.

Reciprocable longitudinally of 'the machine on the supporting bar 98 isa carriage 100 (FIGS. 4 and 5) which has an upstanding arm 102 to whichis pivoted at 104 a bracket 106 which carries the work propelling arm 42for movement with the carriage across the scale platform 34, the armbeing independently movable pivotally from the full line position ofFIG. 5 (and FIG. 6) to the dotted line elevated positions shown in theseviews.

For reciprocating the carriage there is provided a lever 108 integralwith a bearing sleeve 109 fulcrumed on the pintle shaft 110. The shaft110 is axially reciprocable bodily when the bearing sleeve 1109 isremoved from the end of the shaft, from the position shown in FIG. 5 tothat of FIG. 6. When the shaft is in the new position shown in FIG. 6the bearing sleeve may be applied to the opposite end thereof. In bothpositions the sleeve provides a fulcrum for the arm 108 which, in thecourse of its oscillation, brings about the longitudinal reciprocationof the carriage 100 to sweep the actuating arm 42 acrossthescale-platformeither in its horizontal or its elevated position, asthe case .may be. A slot 112 inthe end of the arm is .releasably engagedwith a pin 114 projecting from the-carriage 100, the relative movementbetween the pin and slot accommodating the oscillatory movement of thearm 108 in relation to the rectilinear reciprocation of the carriage.

Carriage movement is broughtabout by a connecting rod 116 pivoted to thearm 108 and connected with a crank shaft 118 on acrank lever 120 carriedbyshaft .122 (FIG. 4). Shaft 122 is driven by chain 124 and gears126,128. The chain derives motion from shaft 86 above described. 1

The oscillatory movement of the work propelling arm 42 is brought aboutby a cam 130 mounted on the shaft 132 which carries gear 126. Co-actingwith the cam is a camfollower 134 mounted on lever 136. This lever isalso pivoted on pintle 110, being provided with a yoke 138 which engagesthe pintle 110 at opposite sides of the bearing 109 above mentioned.(FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) The lever 136 is connected adjustable by link 140with one of the arms 142 on the rock shaft 98 along which the carriage100 is slidable. Carried-by arms 142 is a bar 162 engaged by roller 164in yoke 160 which straddle the bar 162. The yoke is mountedon a link 144connected pivotally vto'one side or the other of the bell crank brackets106. (cf. FIG. 5 and FIG-6) As will be observed in FIG. 5 this bracketis pivoted at its outside to the pintle 104 and has its inside pivotalconnection attached to the link 144. In FIG. 6 it is the right hand sideof the bracket which is pivoted to the arm I02 and the left hand side ofthe bracket which is connected pivotally with link 144. The link 144 isguided by a clip 150 which is attached to carriage 100. At whichever,side of the table propelling arm 42 may be located, the engagement ofcam 130 with cam follower 134 on lever 136 will lift the arm 42 for itsreturn movement and lower it for the purpose of feed movement. When thelinkage 140 raises or lowers the bar 162, a corresponding motionistransmitted to the free side of the bell crank 106 to producecorresponding raising or lowering movement of the propelling arm 42.Through this means the propelling arm is raised to its dotted lineposition while the carriage 100 is making its return stroke, the arm 42being lowered to its full line position after it clears the work on thescale platform 34 so that when the carriage again moves forwardly, thearm will engage the work and propel it from the scale platform onto thedischarge conveyor.

All of the shafts and the driving connections thereto are permanentlymounted but the sweep arm 42 and its carriage and the mechanism formounting and reciprocating these parts, and the mechanism foroscillating the arm 42 are all interchangeably mounted to be operable ateither side of the conveyor system, according to scale position.

The valve 165 which is biased by spring 166 to the left as viewed inFIG. 4 is drawn to the right by the bell crank :168 'whenthe latter isoscillated by displacement patents above mentioned. The rotatable post178 whichcarries the suction nozzle 216 is oscillated l80 by therack-182this being driven by bell crank 184 and cam follower 186 from cam 188 onshaft 122.

The intermittent driving of the conveyor belt 58 above described isaccomplished by operating the belt over a pulley 190 driven by chain 192from sprocket 194. (FIG. 9) Sprocket 194, in turn, is driven by chain196, details of which are shown inFIG. 10. At intervals on chain 196there are laterally projecting link portions 198, engaged from time totime by the bifurcated extremity 2000f a pair of levers on shaft 132which, in each rotation, engages a pair of the extension links 198 toadvance the chain for a predetermined distance sufficient to move aworkpiece 44 from conveyor 46 onto the discharge-conveyor 60, at thesame time advancing another workpiece 44 from the position at the leftin FIG. 9 to a position of engagement with stop 204, which istemporarily elevated in its path as shown at the right in FIG. 9. At theproper time,'the stop 204 is withdrawn by lever 206 actuated by a cam onshaft 122 and transmitting'motionto the stop through link 208.

The vacuum nozzle 216 is rotated on the axis of its supporting tube 215while it rotates bodily with post 178, rotation being achieved by bevelgears 218, 220, the latter being non-rotatable and the former meshingtherewith to rotate the nozzle 216.

The rectifier bar 54 mounted on the arm 52 is retracted to the left asviewed in FIG. 7 by the compression spring 222 and is moved to the rightin work aligning direction by a flexible conductor 224 whichpreferablytakes the form of a chain guided over pulley 226. andconnected witha rod 228 headed at 230 for engagement with an aperturedcrank pin 232 through which the rod passes. The crank pin is on a crank234 at. the end of shaft 132.

The operation is as follows:

Assuming that the machine is organized as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, aworkpiece delivered on the pivoted conveyor 26 is arrested by contactwith the raised end of conveyor 22..In automatic operation the cam 88oscillates lever 35 to draw the right hand end of conveyor 22downwardly. This operates through the lever 23 to raise the left handend of conveyor 26, whereby the power operation of conveyor 22 willcause the incoming workpiece to advance onto the scale platform 34,where it will beweighed'The computer 36 will then function to transmitto the label printer 38 particulars for the printing of a label, and thelabel will be delivered face down into the label chute 40.

Still assumingv automatic operation, vacuum nozzle 216 picks up thelabel and simultaneously rotates it on the axis of the horizontal pipe215 and also rotates it 180 on the axis of post 178. This will leave thelabel right side up, and it will be transferred to a position beneaththesuction pad 220 which is nested in the hot plate 177 at the top of thepost 179.

Meantime, the sweep arm 42 will have advanced the workpiece'from thescale platform 34 onto the conveyor belt 70 where it will temporarilyremain at rest pending operation of the rectifier plate 54 which willmove in from the side to align the workpiece with the position desiredfor application of the label. In the course of the next intermittentoperation of the conveyor, the workpiece will advance from the positionindicated at 54 in FIG. 9 to the position indicated at 44 in FIG. 9,where it will abut the retractable stop 204, actuated by link 208 andlever 206.

The suction pad is mounted at the top of a tubular post 227 which isvertically reciprocated by cam 221 on shaft 122, cam follower 223 andlever 225. The pipe 174 is connected to the lower end of post 227to-supply vacuum to the pad 220 for holding the label thereto. When thelabel carried by nozzle 216 is in' registry beneath the suction pad 220,the pad'is lowered to receive the label, and, at the same time, airpressure is applied to nozzle 216 to assist in transferring the label topad 220. The pad 220 is raised, and the nozzle 216 on the end of pipe215 is swung out of the way, at which time the pad 220 with label 180 islowered to apply the label to the work 44, as described in US. Pat. No.3,264,16l. The stop 204 is then retracted. In the next operation of theconveyor 46 the weighed and wrapped workpiece is discharged.

Assuming that some of the workpieces delivered to scale platform 34 areof irregular form so that automatic operation is not desirable, anoperator in position 62 can draw the entire label printer 38 towardhimself from the full line position shown in FIG. 1 to the dotted lineposition shown at 38. This puts the label chute within easy reach.Thereupon he dispenses with the automatic functioning of the labeltransfer. mechanism and simply picks the workpiece manually from thescale platform and presses it against the label on the chute, the labelhaving its adhesive surface softened to engage and adhere to theworkpiece.

Assuming that new orientation is desired whether by reason ofinstallation in a particular physical plant or by reason of the factthat it may be desired that the operator stand'in position 64 at theoppositeside of the machine (FIG. 2), there are only two changesrequired, one involving the mere lifting and reversal of the scale inthe gap between the conveyors 22 and 46. The other operation is slightlymore complex, but it is accomplished without disturbing very many of thedriving connections above described. The changes made are shown by acomparison of FIG. 5 with FIG. 6. The panel 240 which protects theoperator is removed and the various actuating parts are then connectedat the opposite ends of the same shafts by which they were operated intheir FIG. 5 positions. Only those connections which support and operatethe work propelling arm 42 must be removed from their respectivemountings at the left side of the machine as shown in FIG. 5 andrelocated in corresponding positions at the right side of the machine asshown in FIG; 6.

In this preferred embodiment no substitute parts are required. All partswhich require reversal are so made as to be reversible. Those which haveto be turned around are so designed as to permit this change. Uponcompletion of transfer of the lparts in question, the protective guard240 is re-established between the operators position and the machine,being at theright as viewed in FIG. 6.

-While the workpiece still moves across the machine in the same sequenceand in the direction indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2, thechanged position of the operator has the effect of causing theworkpieces to move past him from left to right, instead of from right toleft.

The indexer or infeed conveyor as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 13provides a simplified and improved escapement mechanism for feeding thepackages in spaced relation to the scale 34. The indexer may bephysically separate from the label machine, or integrated therewith, asshown. The upstream roller conveyor section 26 and downstream rollerconveyor section 22 are oscillated in an escapement cycle which feedpackages to the scale in timed relation to the weighing and labelingcycle.

Bell cranklever 35 pivots on the pintle 250. The end of the bell cranklever 35 is connected to a link 251 on the pin 252. The other end oflink 251 is pivotally connected to the downstream conveyor section 22 onpin 249.

The lever 23 which oscillates frame 30 of conveyor 26 pivots on a pintle253. This lever is characterized herein as a walking beam. The lower endof lever or walking beam 23 has a roller 254 which bears against .theundersurface of the bell crank lever 35. The other end of lever 23carries a roller 255 which bears against the pad 256 on the undersurfaceof frame 30.

Front end roller 257 on downstream roller conveyor frame 22, and the twotail end rollers 258, 259 on said frame, are power driven by belts 96,263. The two rollers 258, 259 are interconnected by the gear set 265.These rollers are knurled to provide good friction thrust against theundersurface of the package 44.

The escapement cycle is illustrated-in FIGS. 4 and 13. FIG. 4 shows thepoint in the cycle where an incoming package 44 arrives on the indexerwhen the downstream rollerconveyor frame 22 is elevated with respect toupstream roller conveyor frame 30. This is because roller on the lowerend of bell crank lever arm 35 is against the low lobe of the cam 264.The forward end of downstream-roller conveyor frame 22 has an abutmentbar 266 against which the package 44 comes to rest.

FIG. 13 shows the point in the cycle when the bell crank lever arm 35has been rotated clockwise as shown in this figure as a consequence ofthe high cam tion counter-clockwise to the walking beam lever 23concurrently raises the frame 30 until the two frames are aligned asshown in FIG. 13. The package 44 then advances by gravity until itsundersurface is engaged by the head end driven roller 257 which willthen accelerate the package 44 in the direction of arrow 267. Thepackage 44 will be further propelled as it passes over the tail enddriven rollers 258, 259 and will be projected onto the scale platform 34to its position thereon as shown in FIG. 2.

Cam lobe 264 has a short circumferential extent so that as soon as thepackage 44 has passed over the head end roller 257, the conveyorsections 22, 30 will be restored to their positions shown in FIG. 4 toarrest the next package 44 against the stop bar 266 and hold it in thatposition pending the next mutual oscillation of the sections 22, 26. v

The respective frames 22, 26 are pivotally mounted at their mutuallyremote ends. Their proximate ends are concurrently oscillated inopposite directions of rotation by the action of the bell crank 35 andwalking beam lever 23.

The indexer is much simpler than those heretofore known to us, forexample, the one shown in US. Pat. No. 3,155,222, in that the relativeoscillatory movement of the two conveyor sections is accomplished byjoint action of the bell crank arm 35 and walking beam lever 23.

It will be understood that no attempt has been made to show specificdimensions or cam shapes, or the precise timing.

We claim:

1. In a weighing and labeling machine for weighing a workpiece andprinting a label therefor, the combination of means providing aworkpiece input conveyor and an output conveyor in mutually spacedrelation to provide a gap, and a scale having a platform portion andreversibly mounted in the gapbetween said input conveyor and the outputconveyor, whereby the scale platform is selectively adapted to receive aworkpiece from the input conveyor at either side.

2. A weighing and labeling machine in accordance with claim 1 in whichthe scale has an elevated head portion adjacent its said platformportion and so disposed as to be at a side of the machine determined bythe position of the reversibly mounted scale.

3. A weighing and labeling machine according to claim 1 and having framemeans supporting said conveyors, and in further combination with meansfor propelling a workpiece from thescale platform onto the outputconveyor, and means for mounting said propelling means interchangeablyupon opposite sides of the frame means in positions proximate the scaleplatform portion irrespective of scale position.

4. The machine of claim 1 in which said input conveyor comprises anindexer having upstream and downstream roller conveyor sections andmechanism for concurrently oscillating said sections in oppositedirections of rotation whereby the head end of the downstream sectionacts as a package abutment for control of the feeding of packages in anescapement cycle.

5. The machine of claim 4 in which said mechanism includes a bell crankand walking beam lever.

1. In a weighing and labeling machine for weighing a workpiece andprinting a label therefor, the combination of means providing aworkpiece input conveyor and an output conveyor in mutually spacedrelation to provide a gap, and a scale having a platform portion andreversibly mounted in the gap between said input conveyor and the outputconveyor, whereby the scale platform is selectively adapted to receive aworkpiece from the input conveyor at either side.
 2. A weighing andlabeling machine in accordance with claim 1 in which the scale has anelevated head portion adjacent its said platform portion and so disposedas to be at a side of the machine determined by the position of thereversibly mounted scale.
 3. A weighing and labeling machine accordingto claim 1 and having frame means supporting said conveyors, and infurther combination with means for propelling a workpiece from the scaleplatform onto the output conveyor, and means for mounting saidpropelling means interchangeably upon opposite sides of the frame meansin positions proximate the scale platform portion irrespective of scaleposition.
 4. The machine of claim 1 in which said input conveyorcomprises an indexer having upstream and downstream roller conveyorsections and mechanism for concurrently oscillating said sections inopposite directions of rotation whereby the head end of the downstreamsection acts as a package abutment for control of the feeding ofpackages in an escapement cycle.
 5. The machine of claim 4 in which saidmechanism includes a bell crank and walking beam lever.